what propriety, even if some of these worthies were unniched, could I pretend to be the editor of Modern Poetry, and omit Langhorne, Wilkie, Mickle, Glover, Penrose, and Johnson himself? Penrose is author of one of the very finest poems in the English language-" The Field of Battle." How far below fifteen could you reduce the list? I submitted my proposal of a lumping thousand to the proprietors of the Johnson edition. Some of the more liberal booksellers stood the shock very well, but among the herd of the lower tribe, the proposal fell like a bombshell, and made them disperse in great alarm. I proposed to divide our labour and profits. Cadell and Davies were sorry for the vote being against me, and I believe would give the sum; but the general opinion was, that I should be exhorted to devise a plan with you, comprehending fewer poets and of less cost.

.

The time also alarmed them; for I demanded not to be bound to finish my part under eighteen months. Books, I think, are not to be promised by the calendar; so I am recommended to concert a new plan. But how can I propose to you to stint your plan to the narrowed limits they require, after drawing off your attention from a great design of your own? How many below the mark of fifteen, is it possible or probable that you will reduce the number of poets in the prodigious space of time between Chaucer and Cowley? or how much, below the sum of 500l. a-piece, is it fair for us to reduce remuneration? For my own part, I know the pestering trouble of picking up anecdotes about the moderns will occupy my time for a year. It will certainly cost me journeys to Oxford, Scotland, and elsewhere. Now, I have a still higher idea of the importance of your taste. As a joint concern, your reputation

is at stake.

ET. 27.]

PROJECTED EDITION OF THE BRITISH POET3.

57

I mean to be quite obstinate on this subject. I will not abate a farthing in my demand. I wish to have your sanction, in rejection of their proposal to put the great plan of our national poetry and poetical biography on a dirty little scale. The upshot will probably be breaking off on the difference of terms; and then your old arrangement with Constable will probably discourage competition. I shall in that case embark in a scheme on which I have for some time cogitated-a Collection of genuine Irish Music, and translations from the Irish, adapted as words, to which I can obtain access. Do you think it will do? I will transcribe a little song, which I mean to belong to the collection, though the subject is Gaelic.*

Pray can you direct me where to find some good notes for Lochiel's Warning? I shall be much obliged to you to mention this when you write.

Believe me, with great sincerity, your affectionate friend, T. CAMPBELL.

The result of these negotiations, as clearly foretold in this letter, was "the breaking off on the difference of terms;" and the "superb work," which was to have united in one grand design the names of Scott and Campbell, fell suddenly to the ground. "But the public," as Mr. Lockhart has well observed, "had no trivial compensation upon the present occasion, since the failure of the original project led Mr. Campbell to prepare for the press those 'Specimens of English Poetry,' which he illustrated with sketches of biography and critical essays, alike honourable to his learning and taste."+

Here follows "Lord Ullin's Daughter," thirteen stanzas, which do not differ from the published copy.

In Mr. Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, the whole scheme of the

In a long letter to Mr. Alison, written with paternal fondness, from “the nursery," Campbell gives a humorous portraiture of his two boys-the elder an infant only twelve months old.

"17th July. ** Your beloved namesake is growing a sweet and beautiful child. The elder, Telford, I am sorry to send you less favourable accounts of. Don't alarm yourself, however, for his health; it is his moral dispositions which are become rude and savage! He talks a language like man in his pristine barbarity, consisting of unmodulated cries and indefinite sounds. He is rapacious, and would eat bread and milk till the day of judgment; but he is obliged to stint his stomach to five loaves, and as many pints of milk, per diem, besides occasional repasts. He is mischievous, and watches every opportunity to poke out little Alison's eyes, and tear the unformed nose from his face! He had not been christened, but only named, till Alison and he were converted to Christianity together. The watering of the young plants was a very uncommon Telford scolded the clergyman, and dashed down

scene.

British Poets is thus concisely stated: "It was first opened to Constable, who entered into it with eagerness. They found presently that Messrs. Cadell and Davies, and some of the other London publishers, had a similar plan on foot; and, after an unsuccessful negotiation with Mackintosh, were now actually treating with Campbell for the Biographical Prefaces. Scott proposed that the Edinburgh and London houses should join in the adventure, and that the editorial task should be shared between himself and his brother poet. To this both Messrs. Cadell and Mr. Campbell warmly assented; but the design ultimately fell to the ground, in consequence of the booksellers refusing to admit certain works, which both Scott and Campbell insisted upon. Such has been the fate of various similar schemes both before and since; while Scott, Mr. Foster ultimately standing off, took on himself the whole burden of a new edition, as well as biography, of Dryden. The body of booksellers meanwhile combined in what they still called a general edition of the English Poets, under the superintendence of one of their own Grub-street vassals.' Vol. II. p. 45.

ET. 27.] LETTER FROM THE NURSERY-INFANT PORTRAITS. 59

the bowl with one smash of his Herculean arms. He continued boasting and scolding the priest till a wild cry of Y-a-men! from the clerk astonished him into silence. The first meeting of Telford and his young friend of the nursery was diverting. T. had seen no live animal of the same size, except the lambs on the Common, which he had been taught to salute by the appellation of B-a-a ! This was for some time his nickname for namesake.

your

The importance of these pieces of information may well be called in question; but you remember the anecdote of some one who was found on his knees playing with his bairns, and who asked his visitor-" Have you ever been a father?" I shall not incur your contempt by confessing that I have worn out the knees of my breeches, not so much by praying as by creeping after Telford, the rumbustical dog! What would we give to have one day of you at Sydenham to join our creeping party! Excuse a letter from the nursery, and believe me, with all the milk of a foster-brother's kindness, your affectionate

T. CAMPBELL.

60

CHAPTER III.

LIFE AT SYDENHAM.

I am

In the meantime considerable progress was made in the "Annals," the proofs of which, at the Author's solicitation, were revised by Mr. Alison, to whom he writes: anxious to know whether your health and time will permit me to draw thus largely on your friendship for performing so dry a task. I still continue to wish in vain for the return of my old health and strength. I have been advised to use sea-bathing. Do you know of any pleasant situation on the western coast that you would recommend. It must be retired, but not a perfect hermitage neither; for I can't do without books, nor can my wife want a market. I think bathing would give me strength. The cold bath was advised to me at Sydenham; but woe's me! our water is brought on carts, and costs two shillings a barrel, so that bathing here is no joke! . . For reasons too, I assure you, not perfectly selfish, I wish to hear from you. I long to see your hand, since I cannot see your face. Affectionately yours,

T. C."

During the early part of summer, his health, though delicate, did not interrupt his literary industry. He prepared a new edition of his Poems; and his mind was cheered with a fair prospect of carrying out the literary plan submitted to Walter Scott. But after this scheme was indefinitely